Malaysia’s beloved brilliant filmmaker Yasmin Ahmad (Sepet) may have gone, but after yet another great piece by Chiu Keng Guan, the locals may soon realise that he’s also a gem in our film industry.

The Journey is a sincere, heartwarming and relatable film that touches on general local issues such as cultural differences, compromise, mutual acceptance, language barrier, old friendship and of course, family. Ah Bee (Joanna Yew Hong Im) returns to Malaysia from England with her Caucasian fiance, Benji (Ben Andrew Pfeiffer) for the first time since her youth to pay respect to her father, Chuan (Lee Sai Peng), and to hopefully receive his blessing for the marriage. The young couple find it more difficult than initially expected to please the stubborn Chuan, who’s old-fashioned and conservative following strict Chinese traditional customs. He decides that each of his old friends must get a hand-delivered wedding invitation from the groom. What results is an unusual road trip movie with a humorous twist. -Tony The